Managing them can be a hassle, especially when you need to find one particular window among the many you have open.
The longer you use a Mac over the course of a day, the more apps and windows you’re likely to be using.
How to open Mission Control Credit: Apple The many different uses of this gesture make it a very useful one to have to hand. Force Click a link, for example, and you get a pop-up preview of the web page. This works on what Apple calls “data detectors.” These can be addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, web links - anything that you can take a subsequent action on in MacOS.
You’ll be presented with a pop-up window containing dictionary definitions, thesaurus entries, plus info from Siri, maps data, movie times and much more, all related to the word you looked up. Seen a word you want to look up? Just do a single-finger Force Click on it (or a three-finger tap in some versions of MacOS) to look it up. Click Trackpad Options, then tick the box next to Enable dragging and select three finger drag from the drop-down menu. To enable it, open System Preferences and click Accessibility, then click Pointer Control in the left-hand column. Fortunately, Apple lets you use a three-finger drag instead, which you may find more comfortable. Sometimes dragging and dropping files can be a little tricky when you’re just using a trackpad, especially if you have to drag a file a long distance. The icon will flash a couple times, then your email will appear and you can simply drop the file onto it to attach it. Show the desktop using this gesture, then drag the file down to the Mail icon in the Dock. This is particularly handy if, for example, you’re composing an email and want to attach a file to it. It’s useful if there’s a file on your desktop that you want to access. The opposite of the Launchpad gesture, spreading three fingers and your thumb apart will clear away your open apps and show your desktop. To close Launchpad, just reverse the gesture.
You’ll see an overlay appear displaying a grid of app icons. To launch it, place three fingers and your thumb on the trackpad, then pinch them together. Want to quickly open an app? The quickest and easiest way to browse your apps is to use Launchpad, which gives you a quick overview of all your installed apps, letting you open one with just a tap. It’s absolutely worth learning a few of the most useful gestures, as they can have a meaningful impact on how quickly you can get around your Mac and get things done.
You may know one or two gestures already, but there’s a plethora of little-known swipes and taps that can unlock extra functionality on your Mac. I don’t use a lot of drawing gestures, except for a couple ones to open websites that I frequent. For example, I use gestures for copying, pasting, switching tabs, closing tabs, and more. Using custom gestures greatly simplifies workflow, as long as you create gestures that you find easy to do, and assign actions that you use most often. Now that you know how you can create a variety of gestures on your Mac, go ahead and create your own custom gestures. SEE ALSO: 15 Cool Mac Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Know Use Gestures on a Mac Trackpad to Simplify Workflow Note: If you’re unsure of what a gesture means, simply select it, and you’ll be able to see what the gesture is, on the small trackpad on the Better Touch Tool preferences window. You can now directly start using the gesture on your Mac, in any application.
Install (Free trial, Licenses from $4) Creating Custom Gestures Note : The app actually follows a “pay what you want” model, and prices start from ~$4 to ~$52, and users can choose the price that they think the app deserves.
The customisation options offered by the app are almost limitless, and at $4, the app is very reasonably priced. The app offers a free trial, so you can follow this guide without having to pay for the app. We’ll be using an app called Better Touch Tool to set up custom gestures on the Mac. Better Touch Tool, or BTT, as it is more commonly referred to, is an extremely versatile, and useful app, that not only allows users to create custom gestures, but adds window snapping functionality to macOS, and a lot more.